The National Book Foundation today announced that this year’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community will be presented to Cave Canem, an organization that 
supports African American poetry. In its 12th year, the award has been presented to distinguished individuals from Dr. Maya Angelou and Dave Eggers to Terry Gross and Barney Rosset but never before to an organization.
“Cave Canem’s innovative and effective literary activism has been transformative to the world of letters” said Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation. “The National Book Foundation is proud to recognize Cave Canem as a champion of diverse voices and a leader in this movement.”
Founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, who named it after a famous mosaic in Pompeii, Cave Canem (“Beware the Dog”) aims to encourage emerging and mid-life African American poets by offering them a safe place to practice their craft. Cave Canem’s ambitious program is anchored by an annual writing retreat at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, PA, that welcomes emerging African American poets, who then become fellows and are invited to two additional retreats within a five-year period.
Other programs include community-based workshops, conversations with leading poets and scholars, reading and lecture series, cross-cultural craft conversations with major poets of color, and an extensive fellows’ tour. All told, Cave Canem offers over 20 local, regional, and national cultural partnerships and collaborative residencies. Finally, in partnership with five presses, the organization administers the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize, and the Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize.
“Many writers of color say that writing programs and book reviews often see them as ‘different’ from the ‘norm,’” says Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen in “Embracing Differences,” part of LJ’s Designing the Future initiative. His comment explains why an organization like Cave Canem is so needed, and its success is easily measured.
At its founding, only five African American poets had been named National Book Award (NBA) finalists. In the following two decades 22 African American poets have been named either NBA winners (e.g., Nikki Finney and Terrance Hayes) or finalists (e.g., Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith and Ross Gay, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award). In addition, Cave Canem has inspired the founding of Kundiman, CantoMundo, and Kimbilio, national organizations supporting Asian American poetry, Latina/o poetry, and fiction writers from the African diaspora, respectively.
Nominations for the Literarian Award are made by former NBA winners, finalists, and judges, as well as other writers and literary professionals nationwide. The award, amounting to $10,000, will be presented at the 67th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on November 16.